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DeSantis Takes Shots at Liberal States With Squatter Crackdown
Pedro Portal/Miami Herald via Getty ImagesFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law Wednesday aiming to crack down on residential squatters in his state by radically shortening the process by which homeowners request the removal of unauthorized people from property.“The squatter scam ends today with my signature on this piece of legislation and the state of Florida will be better for it,” DeSantis said, according to WTVJ. As well as making it simpler to evict squatters, HB 621 also “creates harsh penalties” for people who take part in squatting and “those who encourage squatting and teach others the scam,” DeSantis’ office said in a news release.The law, which comes into effect on July 1, means that homeowners will now be able to “fill out a form, give it to your local sheriff and the sheriff is instructed to go and remove the people who are inhabiting your dwelling illegally,” DeSantis said. Before the bill, squatters were afforded certain rights as tenants that meant a longer process was required to evict them.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Judge Offers Skeptical Retort to Hunter Biden Lawyers’ Bid in Tax Case
Kevin Lamarque/ReutersHunter Biden’s legal defense team on Wednesday asked a judge to dismiss the federal tax case against him, arguing that the president’s son has been subjected to a politically motivated prosecution.At a hearing in Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi pressed Biden’s attorneys to show evidence to support their claims. He said he would likely rule on the motions to dismiss by April 17.Biden was not in attendance at the hearing where his legal team—led by Abbe Lowell—argued that GOP lawmakers and former president Donald Trump had an improper influence on the case, leading to the unraveling of a plea deal last summer, according to the Los Angeles Times. Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Putin Vows to Blast the West’s F-16s Out of the Sky in Ukraine
Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik via ReutersRussian President Vladimir Putin says his forces will shoot down any Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets given to Ukraine, claiming that the nuclear-capable aircraft wouldn’t change the situation on the battlefield.Speaking to Russian air force pilots late Wednesday, Putin said Moscow has no intention of attacking any countries in NATO but that F-16s could be targeted wherever they’re located if they’re being used against Russian forces. “Of course, if they will be used from airfields in third countries, they become for us legitimate targets, wherever they might be located,” Putin said, according to Reuters.Earlier in the day, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said F-16s were on schedule to be in the skies over Ukraine by mid-summer. He added that “pilot training is going well” but acknowledged that much more training for both pilots and engineers would be required “because the transition from Soviet-type aircraft to Western-type aircraft... requires major changes in everything.”Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Suspect Arrested After 4 Killed, 7 Injured in ‘Heinous’ Stabbing Spree
Winnebago County Sheriff’s OfficeA man was arrested Wednesday after four people were killed and another seven were injured in a stabbing spree across several locations in Rockford, Illinois, authorities said.Christian Soto, 22, was booked at the Winnebago County Jail early Thursday on 11 charges ranging from first-degree murder to attempted murder, along with another two charges of home invasion, according to online jail records. Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd, who did not name Soto, said: “Right now, we don’t have a clear motive as to what caused this individual to commit such a heinous crime.”One of those injured in the rampage was left in critical condition, according to Redd. She also confirmed that not all of the victims were stabbed and said none of them were shot. Police said the deceased included a 15-year-old girl, a 22-year-old man, a 49-year-old man, and a 63-year-old woman. Three died at the scene of their attack while a fourth passed away at a hospital, according to the Associated Press.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Meet the Subreddit Roasting Your Kid’s Hilariously Awful Name
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / GettyThe Reddit community r/tragedeigh is probably not a place you want to see screenshots of your social media posts or text messages ending up—especially if you have children.Here’s what makes a good post “tragique,” as they like to call it: It must be about a given name that’s either been deliberately misspelled to make it seem more unique than it is (e.g. Emmaleigh instead of Emily) or original in the sense that it’s a name that seems completely made up (e.g. Dugsly, Brylie, Kaydynce). The more tragique the name, the better.Poking fun at the more unique names isn’t the only thing to do on the subreddit. You can ask other users whether they think a certain name you’re considering for your own kid is a “tragedeigh” or even ask other users to roast your name.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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James Comer Creates New LLC While Blasting Biden LLCs
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesPay Dirt is a weekly foray into the pigpen of political funding. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Thursday.As the impeachment inquiry into the Biden family’s business dealings came crashing down around his ears, House Oversight chair James Comer—who for months has made overblown claims about the Bidens’ limited liability companies—was launching an opaque new LLC of his own.Comer registered the new company, called “Gamaliel Stargazer LLC,” in Kentucky on March 14, as House Republicans were scrambling to find a way to end their disastrous impeachment probe with dignity.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Even Without Much Godzilla, the 2014 ‘Godzilla’ Still Rules
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Everett CollectionIt took 70 years, but Godzilla finally has an Oscar. The big guy’s latest rampage, Godzilla Minus One, picked up Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards a few weeks ago—a long-overdue honor for a movie monster who’s been wreaking resourceful, frugally realized mayhem since the days when he was still a stuntman trampling model cities. Incidentally, one of the movies Minus One beat was The Creator, a lavish sci-fi epic from writer-director Gareth Edwards. Something tells us that Edwards didn’t take the loss too hard. After all, he’s had nothing but nice things to say about the film that bested his own. “It’s what a Godzilla movie should be,” he gushed in a recent interview.Edwards should know: He, too, has made a Godzilla movie. That movie, titled simply Godzilla, was released 10 years ago this May. A box office success, it did what Roland Emmerich couldn’t and finally ushered the skyscraping Japanese star into an ongoing Hollywood franchise. Multiple sequels have followed; the latest, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, stomps into multiplexes this Friday. The series has even expanded into television via an Apple TV+ spinoff set before, during, and after the events of the monster movie that inspired it.For all the groundwork it’s laid, the 2014 Godzilla occupies an unusual place in the oeuvre of everyone’s favorite radioactive reptile. It’s not nearly as acclaimed as its recent Japanese cousins, Minus One and 2016’s satirical Shin Godzilla. (Fans from that side of the world had a field day, in fact, with the portliness of the creature design, joking that of course an American take on the G-man would be fatter.) And even within its own so-called MonsterVerse, Edwards’ hit now looks like something of an outlier: In response to complaints that there wasn’t enough Godzilla in his Godzilla movie—a reservation echoed by a recent Variety ranking of the entire canon—the sequels have offered much more kaiju bang for your buck, as if apologizing for their own ground zero.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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The 21 Wildest ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Scenes
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/ABC/Getty ImagesGrey’s Anatomy is the definitive primetime soap opera of the 21st century. Plot twists lurk around every corner. For every calm stretch of episodes the writers graciously grant these surgeons, there next comes a seismic event so crushing, it reverberates through the show’s core. With 20 seasons under its belt, Grey’s is home to the iconic, the absurd, and everything in between. So we thought, now that the show has returned for Season 20, we’d rank the 20 wildest moments from across the series—plus another, for good measure.We’re going to start with the moments that are head-scratchers, and so-bad-it’s-good, before moving into the serious shocks and twists that have defined Grey’s Anatomy as a TV legend.21. Erica Hahn Disappears Into a Parking Lot (Season 5)Read more at The Daily Beast.
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The Andrew Tate-Loving Misogynist Who’s Now a Breakout Star
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/AlamyMeet Bobita. Bobita is a foul-mouthed, Andrew Tate-loving misogynist with a bald head and goatee who brags about his Maserati and pretends to roar as the MGM lion saying “Blow me.”He is also the alter ego of Romanian actress Ilinca Manolache, and the alter ego of her character in Radu Jude’s new film Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, out now in limited release.In the film Manolache plays Angela, an overworked and exhausted production assistant, who drives around Bucharest trying to recruit victims of on-the-job accidents to appear in a PSA for an exploitative company. Every so often she stops and makes a video as Bobita, standing on the side of the road or in bathrooms to turn the camera on herself as she describes sex acts in wildly profane ways. While most of the film is in black and white, Bobita appears in glorious color. It’s utterly hilarious, and one of the most unique uses of social media aesthetics in a film to date.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Jordan Klepper Takes on America’s Ronna McDaniel Problem
Comedy CentralIn the span of just five days, Ronna McDaniel has seen her career as a television pundit be both born then brutally executed for all the world to see. And while Jordan Klepper says he doesn’t “really give a shit,” there is one issue it brings to light for The Daily Show correspondent and guest host.On Friday, NBC News announced that they had hired McDaniel as an on-air contributor, which resulted in an immediate backlash among many of the network’s VIPs, including Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.McDaniel, the former Republican Party leader, has attempted to distance herself from efforts she made to overturn the 2020 election, however reports indicate her close ties to Donald Trump ahead of the violent insurrection as he attempted to maneuver his way back into the White House.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Larry David Blasts ‘Sociopath’ Donald Trump in CNN Interview
CNNCNN on Wednesday aired a portion of Chris Wallace’s interview with Larry David, in which the Seinfeld co-creator doesn’t hold back much when talking about “sociopath” Donald Trump.David, who has been making media rounds—in one instance beating up Elmo—as Curb Your Enthusiasm wraps up its final season, was asked about his response to political events from 2020 onwards.“How much as the 2020 election—and everything that has flowed from it—pissed you off?” Wallace asked.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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2 Bodies Recovered From Submerged Truck Amid Baltimore Bridge Wreckage
Mike Segar/ReutersThe bodies of two workers who fell into the Patapsco River after a massive container ship slammed into and destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this week were recovered on Wednesday morning, authorities confirmed. The search for four others was suspended, with authorities citing conditions in the water that made it too dangerous for dive teams to continue.The two men were found around 10 a.m. in a red pickup truck submerged in 25 feet of water, Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., secretary of Maryland State Police, said at an evening news conference. They were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, originally from Mexico; and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk, Maryland, who was from Guatemala.Both were part of a construction crew fixing potholes on the bridge, as were the four men who remain missing, Butler said. He explained that the missing are believed to be “encased” within the mangled debris of the 1.6-mile-long bridge. “We have exhausted all search efforts in the area around this wreckage,” he said.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Baltimore Mayor Turns the Tables On Racist Bridge Collapse Conspiracy Theorists
MSNBCBaltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) responded to some of the bizarre criticisms coming from conservatives following the cargo ship-induced collapse of the city’s Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday morning by saying the term DEI—when applied derogatorily to him—means “duly elected incumbent.”On MSNBC’s The Reid Out, host Joy Reid prefaced her interview with Scott, who is Black, by calling attention to a tweet describing Scott as “Baltimore’s DEI mayor.” That post, which references the acronym that stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, has generated more than 25 million views, along with a clarifying community note on X.“I cannot believe I have to say this,” Reid began. “Brandon Scott was elected with 70 percent of the vote in 2020 in a city that is 61 percent Black. So by right-wing logic, a ‘diversity hire’ would have been a white man.”Read more at The Daily Beast.
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King Charles’ Easter Message: I’m Still Here, and Still in Charge
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyKing Charles’ decision to issue a pre-recorded address to the nation at this year’s Maundy Thursday service and attend another service on Easter Day in person is “a clear statement that he is still in charge,” a source has told The Daily Beast.The king, who is under doctor’s orders to avoid large crowds while being treated for cancer, which was discovered when he was being treated for a benign enlarged prostate, will deliver a pre-recorded speech, which sources say will not touch on his recent health travails, to be played on big screens at Worcester Cathedral.Parts of the audio message were revealed late Wednesday, with the king noting how Jesus set an “example of how we should serve and care for each other,” and how “we need and benefit greatly from those who extend the hand of friendship to us, especially in a time of need.”Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Jon Stewart Mocks New York Post Story Questioning His Penthouse Sale
Carlos Barria/ReutersJon Stewart responded with characteristic wit Wednesday after a New York Post story, centered around a right-wing commentator’s tweet, tried to depict the Comedy Central host as a hypocrite after he criticized Donald Trump’s justification of bank fraud as a “victimless crime.”The Post quoted podcaster Tim Pool, who baselessly wondered whether Stewart committed “fraud” when he sold the penthouse for $17.5 million in 2014. The publication based its conclusion on the fact that assessor records from that year showed the property’s estimated market value sitting at $1.882 million. According to the Post, the property’s assessor valuation was under $850,000.On Monday’s episode of The Daily Show, Stewart explained why Donald Trump’s claim that his bank fraud judgment for inflating property values to secure better loans—and then using lower values for tax purposes—was not a “victimless crime.”Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Hamas’ Oct. 7 Attack Wasn’t Mainly About Israel, It Was About Defeating Its Palestinian Political Rival
Hazem Bader/Getty ImagesThe Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel—and the subsequent Gaza war—are rarely understood in their primary political context, which is the power struggle among Palestinian factions.The near-universal assumption is that Hamas viewed its surprise offensive as another phase in a long-term war against Israel. There’s some truth to it, but that misreads why Hamas decided now to deliberately provoke a massive Israeli response—which is the long-standing power struggle between the Islamists in Hamas and their smaller ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), against the secular nationalists of Fatah who control the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and, more importantly, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which represents Palestinians diplomatically.Fatah, of course, knows this full well, but a surge of nationalist sentiment and shared outrage at the mass killing and suffering of the 2.2 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza muffled nationalist leaders like President Mahmoud Abbas (also the chairman of the PLO) in publicly acknowledging Hamas’ breathtaking cynicism.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Matt Schlapp’s Accuser Was Paid to Drop Sexual Assault Suit
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/GettyWhen conservative icon Matt Schlapp announced Tuesday that the sexual battery and defamation lawsuit against him was dropped, he and his allies were quick to note that the ordeal ended without him or the American Conservative Union—the right-wing organization he runs—paying his accuser a single dollar.But what Schlapp didn’t disclose was that the Republican operative who sued him was, in fact, paid to drop the lawsuit, according to two people with knowledge of the payout. It was just that the money came from ACU’s insurance company, these two people told The Daily Beast. (Minutes before this article published, CNN ran a story also revealing that the lawsuit was dropped only after Schlapp’s accuser was paid $480,000 from ACU’s insurer—an amount one of the sources confirmed to The Daily Beast.)Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Palace Releases New Picture of King Charles Ahead of Easter
BBC/Sky/ITV News/Handout via ReutersIn an audio message to mark Maundy Thursday, King Charles will say how Jesus set an “example of how we should serve and care for each other,” and how “we need and benefit greatly from those who extend the hand of friendship to us, especially in a time of need.”Charles’ words—which come after daughter-in-law Kate Middleton revealed her cancer diagnosis, and as he himself undergoes treatment for the disease—do not directly refer to either her or his current medical challenges, but may be seen by some as an oblique reference to the supportive responses to both. Kate, Prince William, and Charles have all thanked the public for their well-wishes in the wake of announcing their diagnoses. In a previous statement, Charles said he was “so proud” of Kate following her public announcement.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Ex-Trump Lawyer John Eastman Should Be Disbarred for 2020 Election BS: Judge
ReutersA judge on Wednesday recommended John Eastman–a now-infamous former lawyer for Donald Trump during the chaotic final days of his presidential term–be disbarred in California, the result of a case centered around his desperate attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Trump’s favor. Eastman, 63, can no longer practice law in California, unless he wins an appeal. The decision from Judge Yvette Roland means his law license will now be deemed “inactive” until a decision on whether he will appeal or not.The ruling came four months after a judge in the California State Bar Court found Eastman culpable for moral and legal violations that stemmed from his work for Trump.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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California Man Sentenced Over Threatening Calls to Pelosi, Mayorkas
Alex Wong/Getty ImagesA man who made threatening phone calls to Nancy Pelosi and United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas was sentenced to 11 months in prison on Wednesday.David Allen Carrier, 44, pleaded guilty to two counts of making threats against a federal official, according to a press release from the United States District Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California.In Jan. 2021, when Pelosi was still the House Majority Speaker, Carrier left a voicemail on her office line in which he threatened to assault her. The call came within a month of the Capitol riots, at which point Pelosi was directing criticism toward Donald Trump for being an “accessory” to the incident which left five people dead. At the time, Pelosi had been inexplicably identified by the far-right as the villain of the riot.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Joe Lieberman, Former Veep Candidate and Longtime Connecticut Senator, Dies at 82
Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesJoe Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent who served as a U.S. senator from Connecticut for nearly a quarter of a century and ran for vice president in 2000, died on Wednesday in New York City. He was 82.His family, who confirmed his death in a statement to The Washington Post, said the cause was complications from a fall.This is a breaking story and will be updated.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Nex Benedict’s Full Autopsy Leaves Questions Unanswered, Advocates Say
J Pat Carter/Getty ImagesAuthorities in Oklahoma released the complete autopsy and toxicology report in the case of Nex Benedict on Wednesday, as LGBTQ+ and civil rights advocacy groups reiterated calls for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding 16-year-old nonbinary student’s February death.“The full report does little to fill in the gaps in information about that day or the more than a year of bullying and harassment that led up to it,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “It does not answer the questions of so many in Oklahoma and across the country.”The full 11-page report released by the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner maintains that Benedict’s death was, as previously reported, a suicide by “combined toxicity” of two drugs, brand names Prozac and Benedryl. The report details the amounts of both the antidepressant and antihistamine found in Benedict’s system upon their Feb. 9 autopsy.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Kim Kardashian Sued by Donald Judd Foundation Over Allegedly Fake Furniture
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagicWhile many artists and brands would leap at the chance to be affiliated with Kim Kardashian, perhaps the world’s foremost and most successful influencer-entrepreneur, the late minimalist Donald Judd, whose eponymous foundation sued Kardashian on Wednesday, is not one of them. Kardashian, the Judd Foundation alleges, is guilty of passing off knockoff Judd furniture as the real thing in a promotional YouTube video for her skincare brand SKKN. “Two minutes and twenty seconds into the video... Ms. Kardashian pointed to two tables with sets of chairs seamlessly tucked under the tables and said, ‘If you guys are furniture people—because I’ve really gotten into furniture lately—these Donald Judd tables are really amazing and totally blend in with the seats,’” the lawsuit states. Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Beyoncé Hints at Which Country Stars She May Feature on New Album
Getty Images/James DevaneyPop megastar Beyoncé gave fans some more insight into her highly-anticipated foray into country music on Wednesday, revealing the track list for Cowboy Carter and hinting that it may include a cover of a beloved Dolly Parton classic and feature Willie Nelson himself.Beyoncé posted the titles for the 27-song album in a graphic on Instagram, which wasn’t accompanied with a caption. The album is set to drop Friday—Beyoncé’s first since 2022, when her Renaissance album was released to universal acclaim.Among the titles shared Wednesday included the track “Jolene”, the same name of one of Parton’s most beloved tracks, which has also been covered by The White Stripes, Miley Cyrus, and the late Olivia Newton-John. Read more at The Daily Beast.
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A President’s Alarming Social Media Post Stirs Mystery in Europe
Ognen Teofilovski/ReutersSerbian President Aleksandar Vucic issued a grim statement about an unspecified threat to his country in a social media post on Tuesday, raising alarm bells about a possible geopolitical conflict.“Difficult days are ahead of Serbia,” he said in a Facebook post. “At this moment, it is not easy to say what kind of news we have received in the last 48 hours, [but] they directly threaten our vital national interests, both of Serbia and [Republika] Srpska,” he added, referring to the ethnically Serb Republika Srpska.He vaguely alluded to Serbia fighting and winning in a difficult challenge ahead.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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MSNBC’s On-Air Ronna McDaniel Drama Did Little to Boost Ratings
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyThe open revolt that played out on MSNBC’s airwaves over Ronna McDaniel’s NBC hiring may have made compelling television for political media junkies, but it didn’t do much to expand the cable-news channel’s overall audience.According to Nielsen, the network’s primetime ratings on Monday night were virtually unchanged from the previous three weeks, even as host after host blasted NBC management for hiring the former Republican National Committee chairwoman as an on-air political analyst. Even MSNBC’s biggest star Rachel Maddow, who used the first half-hour of her show to tear apart the hiring and urge NBC executives to reverse their “inexplicable” decision, saw no boost in the ratings that evening.Following last week’s announcement that McDaniel had joined the network, NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd condemned the hiring during a stunning segment of Sunday’s Meet the Press, opening the floodgates for other on-air stars within the NBC family to follow suit.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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I’m Excited for a Rainy Spring Thanks to Fjallraven’s Waterproof Anorak
Scouted/The Daily Beast/Fjallraven. Scouted selects products independently. If you purchase something from our posts, we may earn a small commission.The clocks have sprung ahead, and spring shower season has officially begun. Early spring tends to be muddy, chilly, and wet, so having the proper jacket for tackling spring adventures can help flip the script on seasonal doldrums. My favorite? Fjallraven’s Vardag Hydratic Anorak, which is available for both men and women.Why an anorak? Personally, I love the coziness offered by a pullover layer compared to a traditional rain jacket. They feel more enclosed and protected, and Fjallraven’s Vardag Hydratic Anorak features a side zipper, making this an easy layer to change into. Plus, when I’m going to be out in the rain for an extended period, an anorak offers increased defenses, as the lack of a front zipper means less chance for rain to seep in. On my rainy-day bike commutes, the front of my jacket takes the majority of the moisture, so I arrive at my destination dry and cozy. Read more at The Daily Beast.
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‘Winnie-the-Pooh 2’ Is a Honey Pot Full of Horrible Ideas
Courtesy of ITN DistributionDue to notoriety far more than quality (which it wholly lacked), last year’s Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey proved an indie horror hit. Thus, the world will now be subjected to additional entries in what British writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield and production companies Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios have dubbed the “Twisted Childhood Universe,” which aims to bring together various iconic children’s-lit characters who have entered the public domain and, consequently, are fair game for juvenile schlockmeisters.This will all build to a crossover event film dubbed Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, whose Avengers-esque title primarily suggests multiple dirty puns. Yet before that undoubtedly Z-grade effort materializes, Frake-Waterfield continues expanding his A.A. Milne-inspired series with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, a sequel that ups the ante in virtually every way—none of them good.Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, which is now in theaters, boasts a bigger budget, higher production values, and an entirely new cast. Alas, when it comes to the things that matter most—like writing, directing, and acting—it’s as chintzy and inept as its predecessor. It’s also crude, ugly, and decidedly misogynistic, but more on that later.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Kari Lake’s ‘Actual Malice’
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/ReutersKari Lake built her entire political brand on MAGA lies which she insisted were true. And yet, on Tuesday she and her lawyers decided they won’t mount a defense in a suit brought by an Arizona GOP election official who accused her of defaming him “falsely and with actual malice.”As an Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2022, she co-optedformer President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election as the basis of her campaign, and when early primary results showed her losing her race, she immediately alleged election fraud and corruption. And yet, she ended up winning the GOP primary, and suddenly the fraud disappeared.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Bethenny Frankel Says She Was Victim of Disturbing NYC Punching Trend
James Devaney/Getty ImagesSocial media has shown a disturbing trend of women saying they were punched while out and about in New York City, and this week, Real Housewives alum Bethenny Frankel said she was the victim of a similar random attack.Frankel shared her experience in a now-deleted comment on fashion student Mikayla Toninato’s viral TikTok video. In the video, Toninato says she was punched in the face while leaving a class in New York City.“I turned the corner and I was looking down at my phone and texting, and then out of nowhere this man just came up and hit me in the face,” Toninato recalled. “I just texted my friends like, ‘Hi, I just got punched in the face,’ and then they sent me a TikTok of this other girl in New York who got punched in the face.”Read more at The Daily Beast.
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